City unveils streetcar route

Feb. 16, 2011

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The Cincinnati streetcar will feature 21 stops, including stations by Great American Ball Park, Fountain and Government squares, Music Hall and Findlay Market, on a 4.9-mile loop stretching from Downtown to Uptown, a new map to be released today shows.

The map details a trip in which Cincinnatians, starting sometime in 2013, could board a sleek new streetcar on the central riverfront, sit back as the center city and Over-the-Rhine roll by, and after a smooth climb uphill to Uptown, hop off about 20 minutes later on the fringes of the University of Cincinnati.

Through the Central Business District and Over-the-Rhine, the stops generally are spaced two to three blocks apart to enhance accessibility, with the longest gap being between the two northernmost stops on Vine Street as the route reaches into Uptown.

"This has been a very carefully considered process so that we maximize the streetcar's value in delivering people to businesses along the route," said Chris Eilerman, City Hall's streetcar project manager.

City engineers and planners, Metro staffers, business owners and others helped determine the locations, searching for spots that best connected the $128 million-plus streetcar line with major destinations and that reduced the number of times that the streetcars will have to switch lanes.

Beyond whatever construction challenges lie ahead, the streetcar project also faces several other potential obstacles, the most notable being opponents' plans to place a charter amendment on the November ballot that would forbid the city from building or operating the system.

However, City Hall leaders, some of whom question the ballot measure's legality, insist they intend to break ground as soon as they receive clearance from federal officials, something that could come as soon as March.

While the streets on which the streetcars will travel had been previously selected, the precise number and location of the stations - some of which will be shared by streetcars and Metro buses - remained unknown until today.

The streetcars will travel primarily along three corridors - over Main and Walnut streets from the riverfront to Over-the-Rhine, between Race and Elm streets through Over-the-Rhine, and on Vine between Over-the Rhine and Uptown.

Main and Elm will provide the northbound route through the Central Business District and Over-the-Rhine, while Race and Walnut will carry the streetcars south to the Banks, completing a circuit that is an elongated, slightly twisted figure eight. Vine Street will be only street along the route in which the streetcars will travel both north and south.

A round trip would look like this: Passengers would board on Freedom Way near Great American Ball Park and the National Underground Freedom Center, then travel north on Main past Government Square and the Hamilton County Courthouse. After traveling several blocks west on 12th Street, the streetcars would resume their northern path on Elm, passing Washington Park, Music Hall and Findlay Market before connecting to Vine for the ride uphill to a stop near University Plaza, on UC's southeastern edge.

On the trip back to Downtown, the streetcars would go south on Vine and Race streets, loop east over Central Parkway and then continue south on Walnut, stopping near the Public Library and Fountain Square before returning to the station by the Reds' ballpark.

Fares have yet to be determined but are expected to be in the range of Metro's base fare, now $1.75. A 2007 feasibility study concluded, not surprisingly, that the lower the fare, the higher the potential ridership, estimated at up to 6,000 per day.

For officials examining that question, the challenge is to settle on a price that does not significantly drive down ridership while still generating enough revenue to make a meaningful dent in the system's projected $3.4 million annual operating cost.